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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Bulk trailer recycling? (Page 1)

 
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2 
 
Author Topic: Bulk trailer recycling?
Jon P. Inghram
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 124
From: Wichita, KS USA
Registered: Jan 2007


 - posted 02-27-2009 01:06 PM      Profile for Jon P. Inghram   Email Jon P. Inghram   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
We've been putting trailers together into reel sized spools and sending then back in the film cans, but it looks like we'll run out of film cans long before we'll have made a sizable dent in the trailer boxes.

Does anyone know if regular plastic recyclers accept film?

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 02-27-2009 02:25 PM      Profile for Randy Stankey   Email Randy Stankey   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
If you listed them in the "Wanted/For Sale" forum at a price of postage + $1.00 you might be able to get rid of a few of them and raise a few bucks to buy booth supplies with. [Big Grin]

Didn't we have a "Trailer Swap" thread going a while back?

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004


 - posted 02-27-2009 02:34 PM      Profile for Monte L Fullmer   Email Monte L Fullmer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
You could just load a good sized bunch of trailers in a 5gal BIB box (take the bag out), seal up the front good, put the depot's address on them and send them back that way....

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Gary Crawford
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 200
From: Neptune NJ USA
Registered: Nov 2003


 - posted 03-03-2009 07:42 AM      Profile for Gary Crawford   Email Gary Crawford   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Are trailers copyright protected? Can you legally sell them?

I wouldn't mind selling the pile I have if it were legal.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 03-03-2009 08:43 AM      Profile for Scott Norwood   Author's Homepage   Email Scott Norwood   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Trailers pre-early-1970s are PD if they don't have an explicit copyright notice on them (few did).

Modern trailers are copyrighted, which means that they can't be copied or exhibited without permission from the copyright holder. This does not really have much to do with whether or not it is legal to sell the physical object, however.

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe that the film distributors would argue that trailers are their property and cannot be sold by others, as ownership rights were never conferred. Would this stand up in court? I have no idea, but that doesn't stop lots of Ebay sellers of posters, trailers, lobby cards, and other promotional material. It would probably be a bad idea to try to sell anything for a current or recent release, at least.

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Gary Crawford
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 200
From: Neptune NJ USA
Registered: Nov 2003


 - posted 03-03-2009 09:14 PM      Profile for Gary Crawford   Email Gary Crawford   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The reason I asked about legality of selling 35mm trailers is that most of what I find online is usually downloads or other non-film versions of the trailer, but few actual film. I have seen some 35mm online for sale, like a pack of 10 assorted for $5, with little interest by buyers.

I always save those that become award winners or others that might have some special interest to them. Maybe someday someone would buy them, I don't know, but the pile grows.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 03-03-2009 10:48 PM      Profile for Mark Gulbrandsen   Email Mark Gulbrandsen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Someone I know... can't remember who exactly... had this problem with trailers he was selling. He was threatened by one of the studios. He then promptly sent the studio a bill for storage of all it's trailers he had accumulated over the years. He never heard back from the studio again!

Mark

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Andrew Bangs
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 148
From: Kerrville, Texas, United States
Registered: Sep 2008


 - posted 03-04-2009 01:11 AM      Profile for Andrew Bangs   Author's Homepage   Email Andrew Bangs   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Once it goes in the trash it becomes public property and you can pretty much do what you want with it (as a physical item). This does not mean you can show it on the screen or sell it for the content of the pictures, but in the end the trick is proving you got it out of the trash in the first place.

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Bob Jones
Film Handler

Posts: 47
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Jun 2003


 - posted 03-04-2009 01:22 AM      Profile for Bob Jones   Email Bob Jones   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Someone I know... can't remember who exactly... had this problem with trailers he was selling. He was threatened by one of the studios. He then promptly sent the studio a bill for storage of all it's trailers he had accumulated over the years. He never heard back from the studio again!

Mark

LOVE IT!!!! CLASSIC!!!

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Gary Crawford
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 200
From: Neptune NJ USA
Registered: Nov 2003


 - posted 03-04-2009 09:17 AM      Profile for Gary Crawford   Email Gary Crawford   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Be a little hard proving I got the trailers from the trash, being I'm a projectionist!

I like sending the studio a bill for storage! Priceless!

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 03-04-2009 10:10 AM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
We've been putting trailers together into reel sized spools and sending then back in the film cans,
You can send back any trailer from any studio in your Technicolor reel cans, but it's not necessary to splice them together...just throw them in loose.
quote:
He then promptly sent the studio a bill for storage of all it's trailers he had accumulated over the years. He never heard back from the studio again!
If I was the studio I would never have sent him another trailer again either. They are the property of the studios, after all.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 03-04-2009 10:28 AM      Profile for Randy Stankey   Email Randy Stankey   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
What about "Doctrine of First Sale"? Do studios actually sell trailers or do they lease or loan them?

If you rightfully BUY a trailer you have the right to do anything you want with it as long as you don't publicly display it. (Except if you are advertising for particular movie that will play in your theater.)

I have never seen any kind of contract that says trailers are sold, leased or loaned. Does that get covered in some kind of master contract that theaters agree to when they lease movies from studios?

We buy trailers all the time. That's usually the only way we can get them. We're such "small potatoes" that studios virtually never send us trailers unless we pay for them.

For all these years, I have been working under the assumption that paying for it means it's yours.

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Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002


 - posted 03-04-2009 10:48 AM      Profile for Jack Ondracek   Author's Homepage   Email Jack Ondracek   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
He then promptly sent the studio a bill for storage of all it's trailers he had accumulated over the years. He never heard back from the studio again!

After which, I would expect never to get trailers from that studio again.

Not really sure how you'd explain why you had a lot of trailers to "store" in the first place. The studios have always had one method or another for returns.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 03-04-2009 11:11 AM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Randy Stankey
We buy trailers all the time. That's usually the only way we can get them. We're such "small potatoes" that studios virtually never send us trailers unless we pay for them.
Randy - I can't imagine a place that's smaller potatoes than us...but we usually get the majority of trailers we need these days. Do you play mostly older titles or something along those lines?

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99


 - posted 03-04-2009 11:51 AM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
Guys,

Being "green" is great and all, but it is ridiculous in this scenario. Please don't send trailers back to the depots. They don't want them. Just throw them away. No one is tracking trailer returns. Nobody cares.

Also their main recycler has now refused to take the mylar for recycling. China isn't buying it anymore and they aren't even taking our cardboard.

So when you send trailers back to the depots, they are required to box up the film, pay to ship it to L.A. where it is then promptly shredded and then more money must be spent to pay to place it in the landfill. You aren't being "green" by any means. In fact all you are doing is causing more oil to be burned, etc.

And if you put yourself in their shoes, imagine having to lug around 500 "Fox boxes" worth of prints on a given day. Those godamned boxes are heavy enough as it is! When you stuff trailers in it you can bring that box up to 100 pounds. Why don't YOU try loading up a Fox box and spend 8 hours picking it up and carrying it around the booth one day???

So throw the trailers away with yesterday's newspaper. They are worth as much. If that's still not good enough for you, at least show some compassion for the underpaid depot workers and their backs.

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